---
name: "Template::Parser"
section: "3pm"
platform: "linux"
package: "perl-template-toolkit"
version: "3.106-2"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/Template::Parser"
---

# Template::Parser(3pm)

LALR(1) parser for compiling template documents

## NAME

Template::Parser - LALR(1) parser for compiling template documents

## SYNOPSIS

```
    use Template::Parser;
    $parser   = Template::Parser->new(\%config);
    $template = $parser->parse($text)
        || die $parser->error(), "\n";
```

## DESCRIPTION

The `"Template::Parser"` module implements a **LALR**(1) parser and associated methods for parsing template documents into Perl code.

## PUBLIC METHODS

### new(\\%params)

The `new()` constructor creates and returns a reference to a new `"Template::Parser"` object.

A reference to a hash may be supplied as a parameter to provide configuration values. See "CONFIGURATION OPTIONS" below for a summary of these options and Template::Manual::Config for full details.

```
    my $parser = Template::Parser->new({
        START_TAG => quotemeta('<+'),
        END_TAG   => quotemeta('+>'),
    });
```

### parse($text)

The `parse()` method parses the text passed in the first parameter and returns a reference to a hash array of data defining the compiled representation of the template text, suitable for passing to the Template::Document **new()** constructor method. On error, undef is returned.

```
    $data = $parser->parse($text)
        || die $parser->error();
```

The `$data` hash reference returned contains a `"BLOCK"` item containing the compiled Perl code for the template, a `"DEFBLOCKS"` item containing a reference to a hash array of sub-template `"BLOCK"`s defined within in the template, and a `"METADATA"` item containing a reference to a hash array of metadata values defined in `"META"` tags.

## CONFIGURATION OPTIONS

The `"Template::Parser"` module accepts the following configuration options.  Please see Template::Manual::Config for further details on each option.

### START\_TAG, END\_TAG

The START\_TAG and END\_TAG options are used to specify character sequences or regular expressions that mark the start and end of a template directive.

```
    my $parser = Template::Parser->new({
        START_TAG => quotemeta('<+'),
        END_TAG   => quotemeta('+>'),
    });
```

### TAG\_STYLE

The TAG\_STYLE option can be used to set both START\_TAG and END\_TAG according to pre-defined tag styles.

```
    my $parser = Template::Parser->new({
        TAG_STYLE => 'star',     # [* ... *]
    });
```

### PRE\_CHOMP, POST\_CHOMP

The PRE\_CHOMP and POST\_CHOMP can be set to remove any whitespace before or after a directive tag, respectively.

```
    my $parser = Template::Parser-E<gt>new({
        PRE_CHOMP  => 1,
        POST_CHOMP => 1,
    });
```

### INTERPOLATE

The INTERPOLATE flag can be set to allow variables to be embedded in plain text blocks.

```
    my $parser = Template::Parser->new({
        INTERPOLATE => 1,
    });
```

Variables should be prefixed by a `"$"` to identify them, using curly braces to explicitly scope the variable name where necessary.

```
    Hello ${name},
    The day today is ${day.today}.
```

### ANYCASE

The ANYCASE option can be set to allow directive keywords to be specified in any case.

```
    # with ANYCASE set to 1
    [% INCLUDE foobar %]    # OK
    [% include foobar %]    # OK
    [% include = 10   %]    # ERROR, 'include' is a reserved word
```

### GRAMMAR

The GRAMMAR configuration item can be used to specify an alternate grammar for the parser. This allows a modified or entirely new template language to be constructed and used by the Template Toolkit.

```
    use MyOrg::Template::Grammar;
    my $parser = Template::Parser->new({
        GRAMMAR = MyOrg::Template::Grammar->new();
    });
```

By default, an instance of the default Template::Grammar will be created and used automatically if a `"GRAMMAR"` item isn't specified.

### DEBUG

The DEBUG option can be used to enable various debugging features of the `"Template::Parser"` module.

```
    use Template::Constants qw( :debug );
    my $template = Template->new({
        DEBUG => DEBUG_PARSER | DEBUG_DIRS,
    });
```

## AUTHOR

Andy Wardley \<abw@wardley.org\> \<http://wardley.org/\>

## COPYRIGHT

Copyright (C) 1996-2022 Andy Wardley.  All Rights Reserved.

This module is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

The main parsing loop of the `"Template::Parser"` module was derived from a standalone parser generated by version 0.16 of the `"Parse::Yapp"` module. The following copyright notice appears in the `"Parse::Yapp"` documentation.

```
    The Parse::Yapp module and its related modules and shell
    scripts are copyright (c) 1998 Francois Desarmenien,
    France. All rights reserved.
    You may use and distribute them under the terms of either
    the GNU General Public License or the Artistic License, as
    specified in the Perl README file.
```

## SEE ALSO

Template, Template::Grammar, Template::Directive